At the time, this was the largest wheel-based
airplane in the world. It first flew in 1929, with a crew of 7 and 34 passengers,
some of which were housed in the wings.
The construction was based on a „flying wing“ patent issued to Prof. Junkers before WWI. Powered by 4 Diesel engines, the space in the wings allowed maintenance during the flight and ensured an unparalleled level of flight safety.  In
spite of her trouble-free handling characteristics, the slow and cumbersome
G38 was not a real success and consequently, only two were ever built.
Passengers and airlines alike preferred the more streamlined high speed
aircraft, such as Heinkel He 70 or He 111. In the relatively luxurious
and small world of 1930ies air traffic, these airliners were more of a
technical challenge than a necessity.
One of the aircraft was destroyed without loss of life in 1936, when she crashed during the final approach. The other craft served as a troup transport and was lost to english fighter planes in a strafing attack in Greece in 1940. The japanese army built 6 aircraft under a
license agreement (Mitsubishi Ki 20) and used them until 1943.
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